# Find a problem worth solving

Canonical: https://manyspace.aporia.systems/topics/find-a-problem-worth-solving-earn-ai-001
Updated: 2026-10-24

Earning Money with AI · Discover a real opportunity · EARN-AI-001

- Difficulty: 1 / 5
- Importance: 4 / 5
- Study time: 0.5–1 h

Choose a narrow customer, a recurring task and an outcome you can verify.

## Why it matters

An AI tool does not create demand. A costly, repeated customer problem gives you something testable to improve.

## Where it is used

Write a problem brief naming one customer, the current workflow, its frequency, the cost of failure and a success measure.

## How you know you have learned it

Complete the scenario checks, explain the decision in your own words, and produce this artifact: Write a problem brief naming one customer, the current workflow, its frequency, the cost of failure and a success measure.

## Map time to a customer outcome

Hypothetical report workflow: include human review before counting a saving.

Look for a task you understand and can check: cleaning a permitted spreadsheet, preparing a source-linked summary, or drafting accessible product descriptions from approved facts. Avoid high-stakes work you cannot competently verify. Ask who owns the problem, what happens today, and what a good result looks like. Treat estimated time savings as a hypothesis.

A local shop spends 90 minutes on a weekly report. A sample AI-assisted process uses 20 minutes drafting and 25 reviewing.
1. Record the original inputs and the shop’s quality checklist.
2. Count the complete new workflow: 20 + 25 = 45 minutes.
3. Compare accepted outputs and record corrections, not just typing time.

Potential saving: 45 minutes per report. It becomes evidence only after a fair test.

Your draft is faster but omits refunds. Is the workflow an improvement?

Not yet. The output fails the agreed requirements. Fix the omission and remeasure total time, including rework.

## What you need first

Nothing: this is a starting point.

## What it opens

- [Validate demand before building](https://manyspace.aporia.systems/topics/validate-demand-before-building-earn-ai-002)